Frommer's Kauai - Jeanette Foster [76]
The airy atmosphere takes you back to the days of a grand plantation overlooking the sea. This is a comfortable, unostentatious place where you can bring the kids and Grandma. The rooms are large (nearly 600 sq. ft.) and elegantly outfitted. All have marble bathrooms and spacious private lanais; most have ocean views. Club floors have their own concierge and a lounge serving continental breakfast, drinks, and snacks. The hotel is next door to the Robert Trent Jones, Jr.–designed Poipu Golf Course. If you stay here, don’t leave without a treatment from the ANARA Spa, the best spa on Kauai. (Also check out the large selection of classes—some of them free—at the fitness center.) There may be 23 Grand Hyatt hotels on the planet, but frankly, I can’t image any of them better than this.
The collection of swimming pools here—freshwater and salt, with slides, waterfalls, and secret lagoons—makes this oceanfront Hyatt a real kids’ paradise. The Camp Hyatt children’s program offers arts and crafts, scavenger hunts, and other special activities. Plus, the Hyatt is one of the few hotels to offer “camp” in the evening, from 4 to 10pm.
1571 Poipu Rd., Koloa, HI 96756. 80 0/55-HYATT or 80 8/742-1234. Fax 80 8/742-1557. www.kauai.hyatt.com. 602 units. $432–$600 double; from $546 Grand Club; from $1,630 suite. Packages available (as we went to press the lowest Internet rate was $306). Extra person $50. Children 17 and under stay free in parent’s room. Resort fee of $18 a day for local and toll-free calls, self-parking, daily local newspaper, 1 hr. at the tennis court free, fitness access to the ANARA Spa and to classes, and 10% off various shops on property. AE, DC, MC, V. Valet parking $10. Amenities: 6 restaurants (including Dondero’s and Tidepool), 6 bars (the partially open-air Stevenson’s Library has mellow jazz Thurs–Sat nights); babysitting; bike rental; extensive Camp Hyatt kids’ program; concierge; concierge-level rooms; one of the best fitness centers on the island; 3 hot tubs; an elaborate freshwater fantasy pool complex, plus 2 more pools and 5 acres of saltwater swimming lagoons w/islands and a man-made beach; room service; a 25,000-sq.-ft. ANARA Spa w/lava-rock shower gardens, a 10-headed Swedish shower, and indoor and outdoor treatment rooms; 4 tennis courts; and watersports equipment rentals. In room: A/C, TV/DVD, hair dryer, Wi-Fi ($15/day).
Ko’a Kea Hotel & Resort Just opened in 2009 is this oasis—a small boutique hotel on one of the most beautiful stretches of beach in Poipu, with luxurious accommodations and first-class amenities (including an espresso maker in your room). In the footprints of the former Poipu Beach Hotel (which was destroyed by Hurricane Iniki in 1992), the 121-room hotel offers a central location in Poipu for dining, shopping, and activities, but the truth is that you will feel so relaxed on the manicured grounds and so happy with the beach out front, you won’t want to leave. And, really there’s no reason to: between the culinary creations at the Resort’s dining room, Red Salt (), the on-property spa, and the beckoning waves at the beach, you could happily spend your Kauai vacation here just relaxing. The rooms feature everything from a flatscreen TV to iPod docking station.
2251 Poipu Rd., Poipu, HI 96756. 87 7/806-2288 or 80 8/828-8888. Fax 80 8/332-5316. www.koakea.com. 121 units. $446–$725. Suites from $1,625. See website for deals, as we went to press garden rooms started at $299. Extra person $50, children 18 and under stay free in parent’s room. Resort fee $16/day for valet-only parking, use of Internet and the fitness center. AE, DC, DISC, MC, V. Amenities: Restaurant (Red Salt) and lounge; small fitness center; nearby golf courses; pool with whirlpool; small spa. In room: A/C, TV/DVD/CD, fridge, iPod docking